How we work with accountants

As lawyers who have worked with accountants for over 20 years, we understand that:

You do not want to start incurring costs with a lawyer until you know that there are real issues that need to be addressed;

You like to have a realistic and firm idea of the costs involved (so that you can liaise with and get the approval of your client). You do not want to be undersold, and then have the embarrassment of passing on unexpectedly higher fees to your client;

You do not need a lot of input from a lawyer, but when you require assistance (in the form of legal documents or advice), you require it now, and not in a months time;

You do not require a restatement of the law, you require a practical interpretation of the law that provides you with a clear direction in which to proceed. You are not looking for a lawyer who sits on the fence and continually qualifies his or her advice;

Although you strive to minimise tax and maximise commercial flexibility for your clients, you do not want to be responsible for advising them to adopt aggressive strategies, that may end up costing you and your clients time and expenses in the future; and

You are busy and can’t always get to the offices of your lawyer, and therefore appreciate it when your lawyer comes to you.

Meeting your needs

We do not begin to charge until we have discussed the matter with you and have clearly identified the issues that need to be addressed.

We provide fixed fees for standard documents and transactions. For more complex matters we address the question of likely costs in detail. We aim to give you a realistic quote based on what we consider to be the maximum fee. We then strive to come in under budget. We believe our fees represent good value for money. At the end of the day, we want you to come back.

Before taking a matter on we will ask you for a realistic idea of when the matter must be completed. If we are unable to meet this timeframe, we will let you know and direct you to another competent lawyer who may be able to assist you in the time available.

We aim to provide you with advice you can act on. Where the circumstances are clear, our advice will be unequivocable. When the circumstances require clarification, we will provide you with two or more alternative courses of action and explain the factors that should guide your decision.

We work with our taxation and commercial laws, not against them. Our advice is cutting-edge but still conservative, so that we can all sleep peacefully at night.

When possible, we come to your offices to take instructions in relation to a client matter.

If we sound like lawyers you can deal with, then call us on 1300 654 590, and let’s meet.